A Haunted House and a Cannibal

A Haunted House and a Cannibal

This week we discussed a haunted home in Indiana and a cannibal who became famous for being, well, for being a cannibal. It’s a crazy world that we live in right now and if you didn’t tune in to hear us stumble through our first attempt at recording, or you simply prefer to read, and you would still like to know about our crime and paranormal stories then you have come to the right places. Ladies and gents, I present to you… Mayhem & Spooks: The Blog.

The Whispers Estate is a four-bedroom house located in Mitchell, Indiana on Warren Street. Good news! If you’ve ever wanted to own a haunted house the Whispers Estate home is currently for sale for a whopping 130,000 dollars. This price includes furniture and…. Ghosts? Who knows? But, seriously, if someone does buy it, hit me up and let me stay the night. Just once that’s all I’m asking for.

Okay, enough rambling. Story time. Let me take you back to 1899. Dr. John and Jessie Gibbons purchased the home, not yet known as Whispers Estate, from the original owners, Dr. George and Sarah White. Dr. John was a prominent doctor in Mitchell and his office was in the rooms on the ground (or first) floor of the house. Given the time period that this took place it’s highly likely that many of his patients died there during his 26 years of practice.

In the early 1900s a family was riding by the Gibbons’ home in a carriage and had an accident. The father died immediately, and the mother died shortly after, as well. Their children were left orphans.

Dr. John and Jessie decided that they would adopt the children. This is where the term “allegedly” comes in because adoption records weren’t very well kept back then. How gracious of them right?

In 1912, close to Christmas time, the 10 -year -old Rachael decided that she wanted to peek at the presents underneath of the tree in the front parlor. Unfortunately, she knocked a burning candle onto the tree and caught the entire room on fire. There is still evidence of this fire on the woodwork in the parlor of the home today.

Poor little Rachael was badly burned from the fire and didn’t live much longer. A mere two days after the fire she passed away. Some say that Dr. John purposely administered an overdose of morphine to the girl because he saw her as damaged goods and didn’t want her tarnishing his reputation.

Another daughter, a ten-month-old named Elizabeth, died in the master bedroom of unknown causes. Jessie Gibbons would also take her final breaths in this room in 1933, after a bout of double pneumonia.

Helen, the only daughter to have any record of officially being adopted by the Gibbons, tried to have Dr. John admitted into an insane asylum. It was said that the doctor was a bit of a pervert and would inappropriately touch some of his female patients. He was also known to perform gruesome abortions in the house.

Some say that there are four graves in the backyard of the home along with a pit-grave containing amputated limbs, aborted fetuses, internal organs and who knows what else. One thing is for sure, that type of stuff does NOT belong in anyone’s backyard. One thing is for sure, that type of stuff does NOT belong in anyone’s backyard.

Dr. John died in the first -floor master bedroom of pneumonia in 1944. He left the house to Helen who, wanting absolutely nothing to do with the house, promptly sold it.

Three owners/occupants met ill fates in the house after it’s sale. The first was a man in the 1950s who died in the upstairs bathroom and his body wasn’t discovered for three days. The second and third were father and son. A young special needs boy by the name of Gary was said to have fallen down the stairs to his death. Some believe that his shunt may have malfunctioned, resulting in his death. The family moved from the home but the father, Virgil, returned to gather some items they had left behind in a closet. Unfortunately, while doing so, he suffered from a fatal heart attack.

In 2006/2007 the house was sold to its current owner who gave it its name after guests spoke of hearing whispering voices in their ears. Hence the name, Whispers Estate. The current owner is selling the house because he is engaged and moving to Indianapolis, which is about two hours away.

Now, onto the fun stuff. There are several different experiences that people have had in the house and I’m only going to go through a few of them. I will provide you with links if you have further interest.

In the parlor there is a piano that has dolls on it. It is said that if you touch these dolls you will have bad luck that will come in threes. The Whispers Estate Facebook page has pictures of notes and other stuff that guests have left for them and one of these was about how they had touched the dolls and had bad luck directly after. Guests have claimed to be scratched, pushed and bitten. In Jessie’s room people have smelled rotting flesh or baby powder. “Gary” is said to be in the closet here and he often plays with the toys in said closet. A child has been heard running throughout the house, children’s laughter or screams have been heard, doorknobs have jiggled on their own and doors are known to pop open of their own accord.

There are many, many more experiences that have occurred in the house, but I just wanted to touch base on a few of them. The house is still offering tours, and, for a higher price, you can even stay overnight.

Now let’s talk about a cannibal from Japan, Issei Sagawa. This man became famous for his crimes and rode on the curtails of them for years.

Sagawa was born in Japan to wealthy parents. He was a short man, standing at just under five feet tall and he had a feminine-like voice. He would go on to say that he wasn’t the kind of man that most women would find attractive and he was acutely aware of his shortcomings. These factors may have played into his obsession with finding the perfect woman.

He was studying English literature in Tokyo when he became attracted to a German woman who was teaching him the language. One night he crawled through the window of her apartment intent on killing her and then eating her. He found her asleep and scantily dressed but hadn’t brought with him any sort of weapon in which to murder her with. He spotted an umbrella that he could use but before he could do anything the woman woke up. She saw him standing in her room and screamed, which startled him, so he fled and didn’t return. He knew he needed to be more prepared next time.

While studying in Paris he met Renee Hartevalt, a 25-year-old Dutch woman who was studying for a Ph.D. in French literature. He simply couldn’t get the image of her smooth, white skin of Renee’s arms out of his head. Sagawa used his father’s wealth to hire her as his private German tutor. Over time Sagawa and Renee developed a friendship; he would take her to art exhibits and invite her over for dinner.

Sagawa had made sexual advances towards Renee, but she had refused them, insisting that they remain as friends. They continued to go out together as friends until one night, Sagawa decided that he had waited long enough.

He invited Renee over and handed her a German poem to read under the pretense that he wanted to record her fluent reading of it. He then took out a .22-caliber rifle and shot her in the back of the neck He panicked at the sight of the blood and fainted. He also briefly considered calling for an ambulance but decided against it. Afterall, this was the moment he had been waiting years for.

First, Sagawa undressed her. He was extremely happy with the fact that she could no longer refuse any advances he made and had his way with her corpse. He first cut a piece of her nipple off and a piece of her nose. He tried to bite into her buttock but found that it was hard to break the skin so instead he used a knife to cut a piece. He would spend several hours tasting different parts of her body, some raw and others he cooked and ate with a topping of mustard. He stored some strips of flesh in the fridge and freezer for later consumption.

He did try to dispose of the body, carrying her in two suitcases to a park where he planned to dump her body in a lake. However, he was spotted, panicked, and fled leaving the suitcases there. He returned to his apartment and ate some of the pieces he had stored.

The police arrived at his apartment a few days later with a search warrant and Sagawa let them search it freely. They found pieces of Renee in the fridge and Sagawa was arrested. He confessed to what he had done and underwent a psychiatric evaluation. A judge decided that he was not competent to stand trial by reason of insanity and instead he was placed in a mental institution.

His father pulled some strings and got him released back to Japan where he underwent further evaluations. It was deemed that he was not insane and that he should be in prison but given the lack of documentation from the French government authorities in Japan had nothing to charge him with. And so, he was let out to live the rest of his life as a free man.

Issei Sagawa now lives in Tokyo and is a minor celebrity in Japan. He is often invited as a guest speak and commentator. There have been books written about him as well.

For Further information on either of these stories you can visit the websites below:

http://www.murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sagawa-issei.htm

https://www.paranormalmilwaukee.com/locations/whispers-estate

http://whispersestate.epizy.com/?i=1

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